


hey, sister

by Jace_Diaz_Of_Hell



Category: Final Space (Cartoon)
Genre: Good Brother Little Cato, Multi, polyspace kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:41:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22699591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jace_Diaz_Of_Hell/pseuds/Jace_Diaz_Of_Hell
Summary: Little Cato is almost an adult by the time Nebula is born. That doesn't stop them from being close.
Relationships: Ash Graven/Little Cato, Quinn Airgone/Avocato/Gary Goodspeed
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	hey, sister

Little Cato is all but grown when it happens- when Quinn ( _ his mom? Stepmom? Mom- If he could have two dads he could have two moms, wherever the person who had given birth to him was _ ) gave birth. 

When he officially became a big brother. 

It took Quinn a while to give birth- apparently humans had longer labor periods than Ventrexians, and she was on the older side for that anyways- so he hovered out in the waiting room, Ash holding his hand to keep him from being too worked up. 

When its  _ finally  _ done, he’s allowed into the room to see his parents. Gary is looking pale and shocked, and Avocato looks… soft, is the only way he can describe it. Happy and proud and worried, all wrapped up in one. Quinn, who is recovering in her bed, just looks exhausted and delighted. 

In her arms is the tiniest bundle of a living thing that Little Cato has ever seen. The baby is all swaddled in blankets, only the littlest tuft of brown hair on her head, one tiny fist out and waving ever so slightly.

“Do you want to hold your sister?” His Mom asks, and all Little Cato can do is nod a little shyly. His father guides him over to a chair, and carefully lowers the baby into his arms. 

“Her name is Nebula.” He says, and Little Cato nods absently, looking down at his baby sister’s half-asleep face. He takes her little hand, and her tiny fingers curl around his, and suddenly there’s a lump rising in his throat and he feels like he might cry. 

She’s  _ so  _ small, so helpless. What does the universe have planned for her? He hates to think of her growing up at all close to he did, all the shit he went through between eleven to seventy-four and then back to fourteen. He didn’t deserve it and neither does she- so it’s good she has him.

“Hi, Nebula.” He whispers quietly, watching her dark eyes look around. “I’m your brother.”

* * *

The older Nebula gets, the clearer it becomes that she has her own personality, and quite a lot of it. She’s two now, and she cracks Little Cato up to no end. 

She likes everyone on the ship, for the most part, but tends to avoid KVN. When asked why, she huffs and stomps one little foot, which is missing her sock. 

“He’s  _ loud,”  _ she says at the top of her lungs. “ An’ he laughs ‘cause I fall down.”

“That’s not nice of him.” He answers, and she wrinkles her nose.

“That’s cause he’s mean.” She says bluntly. “I like HUE more.”

Little Cato scoops her up and tosses her in the air, grinning. “Oh yeah? What about me? Do you like me more than KVN?”

“Duh!” Nebula answers with a giggle. “You the bestest big brother ever!” 

“Am I your favorite brother?” He asks, and she looks at him as though he’s dumb. 

“My  _ only _ .” She says, making Ash laugh from nearby. 

“Oh, of course.” He says solemnly. “How silly of me.”

“You  _ always  _ silly.” Nebula tells him, and he bursts out laughing. She reaches out and pats his whiskers clumsily with her chubby hand, and then yawns, and he finally remembers that she came complaining because KVN refused to stay out of the nursery and woke her from her nap. 

“You can sleep here.” He tells her, gathering her in close as she rests her head on his shoulder. “I won’t let KVN wake you up again.”

* * *

As the years pass, new things happen. He gets another little sister, named Americato, and he can just  _ tell  _ she’s going to be a mischief maker even when she’s a baby. 

Nebula dotes on Americato, glad to no longer be the youngest, and is always trying to help their mom with the baby. 

Nebula becomes somewhat of a little diva, layering herself in ropes of fake beads and telling everyone she’s gonna be a singer when she grows up, so that kids like her will listen to her music and like dancing to it, the way she dances to country music with their Dad.

Americato eventually announces that she is, in fact,  _ not  _ a girl, and from then on they’re his baby sibling. 

He and Ash get married, and Gary gives her away. Nebula is the flower girl at their tiny ceremony, and Americato carries the rings solemnly as if they’re precious cargo.

And then, before he knows it, he has a baby of his own. 

Purrding is so  _ tiny  _ in his arms, and he remembers that feeling he had when he first held Nebula, although it’s a dozen times bigger now because he’s a  _ dad.  _

When Nebula, ten years old and obsessed with the weirdest hairstyles she can make, awkwardly asks if she can hold the baby, he grins and guides her over to a chair near the bed. 

Ash- exhausted, proud, and a little bit defensive- slowly lowers Purrding into Nebula’s arms. Little Cato can see every emotion playing out over his sister’s face- awe, delight, and something  _ soft,  _ something heartwarming. She starts to tear up, looking down at the baby, at their mismatched eyes and the little scales and the tuft of pink hair. 

He’s prepared for her to make some comment about how weird his child is, because he knows Purrding doesn’t look quite Ventrexian or Serepentian. 

“Oh,” She whispers instead, surprising him, “You are  _ beautiful.  _ Hi. I’m your Auntie. Auntie Neb.”

* * *

It’s official. Nebula has reached the “I hate my parents” stage of teenage rebellion. And she’s only twelve.

“Dad  _ knows  _ I don’t wanna fight, but he makes me practice every single  _ day,”  _ She whines, holding Purrding on her lap and letting him trace the lines in her palms, his little chubby fingers prodding at calluses. “Just in case.”

Ash, braiding Nebula’s hair back into pigtails, hums sympathetically. Nebula adores Ash as much as she loves Little Cato, doesn’t even bother calling her her sister-in-law. Just her big sister. Ash has embraced the title wholeheartedly. 

“I mean, when have you  _ ever  _ heard of a famous singer needing to fight?” She asks. “It’s  _ stupid.” _

“Stupid.” Purrding echoes from her lap, poking at a little bruise on her wrist. She grins down at him.

“Yeah, its  _ stupid.”  _ She repeats, and he smiles at her a little. “Do you think someone who sings should fight?”

He pauses, a thoughtful expression on his little face. 

“Daddy sings to me.” He says after a moment. “ _ And _ fights.”

“Yeah,  _ Nebula,”  _ Little Cato chimes in for the first time, grinning at her. “C’mon. Don’t you want to be a singer that can kick ass if you need to?”

“ _ Daddy,”  _ Purrding says in a disapproving voice at the same time Ash gasps. “Bad word.”

Nebula starts giggling as Ash gives him a  _ look  _ and he sticks his tongue out at his wife, which makes his sister laugh harder. 

Her braids come out crooked from giggling too hard instead of staying still, but all signs of brooding and complaining fade for the moment, so Little Cato counts it as a win.

* * *

Time marches on. 

Purrding grows. Americato and Nebula grow up. 

Nebula starts a video blog when she’s fifteen. Silly things like makeup tutorials, kareoke, her playing guitar or singing. 

When she’s twenty one, it pays off for her and she’s contacted by an agent. She gets the chance to make her own music, when she wants and how she wants. When she comes to him, practically glowing with excitement, he matches her with equal enthusiasm.

They talk about it late into the night, having moved to her room after Ash went to bed. 

“... You’re the first one who’s actually happy for me.” She admits quietly in the dark, looking down at her hands. “Our parents are all really worried for me and don’t want me to leave. Americato is mad at me- they think that I’m trying to ditch you guys, because I haven’t told anyone who my family is, and I’m  _ not,  _ I swear, I just-”

Her voice breaks, and she sniffs, wiping her eyes.

“Just… thanks for being happy for me.” She says. 

Little Cato holds out his arms, and she throws herself at him in a hug, the same way she used to as a little kid. 

“Of course I’m happy.” He tells her. “This is what you’ve wanted to be since you were  _ tiny.  _ Just promise me something? That you’ll stay in touch?”

Nebula nods, and smiles a little.

“I will,” She promises. 

It’s the first promise to him that she doesn't keep. 

* * *

Three years later, Nebula is lying unconscious in the infirmary. Her leg is in a cast, and her breathing is a little raspy, because of the wound on her back. There’s a bandage on her forehead, and blood matted in her curls. 

She’s twenty four now. Little Cato knows this. He knows she fought back as hard as she could, that she stood up for herself, that she’s an adult and a capable one at that. 

But looking at her, all he can see is his little sister. The girl who thanked him for being happy that she was happy, the pre-teen who rolled her eyes and said she didn’t want to fight, the girl who cried over a baby. If he looks long enough, he can even see the toddler that used to nap on his shoulder, the baby sister he held and promised to protect. 

He sits on the edge of her cot and takes her hand. Her fingers wrap around his, and her eyes open slowly, just as wide and dark as the day she was born. 

“Hi, Nebula.” He whispers, and she smiles at him drowsily, squeezing his hand. “It’s okay. I’m here.” 


End file.
